WHEN ZIMBABWE pop music icon Oliver Mtukudzi plays the Marin Jewish Community Center on Feb. 15, he wouldn't be surprised to hear someone call out, "mudhara Tuku makapenga," meaning something like "you are a living legend Tuku," and to see fan waving a Zimbabwean flag.

That has happened many times in the past year as the beloved singer, guitarist and songwriter toured the U.S., Holland, the U.K., Canada and South Africa with his band the Black Spirits. Zimbabwe's most successful musician, Mtukudzi, nicknamed "Tuku," is a national treasure in his native country. On his 60th birthday in 2012, thousands of fans attended a celebration in his honor at a sports stadium in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

Mtukudzi writes songs dealing with the struggles and daily live of his fellow Zimbabweans, but they have a universal resonance. Marin's own Bonnie Raitt, a big fan, covered his song "Hear me Lord" and says he inspired her song "One Belief Away" on her "Fundamental" album.

Mtukudzi's style blends the hypnotic rhythms of the thumb piano, the lively Zimbabwean pop style called jit and the traditional kateke drumming of his clan. Like Hugh Masekela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, he has sold hundreds of thousand of records in the U.S. He is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for eastern and southern Africa, focusing on Young People's Development and HIV and AIDS Prevention.